Re-Thinking Representation: Applying Paulo Freire’s Ideas to Memorials

Detail of Ida Wells-Barnett plaque, Extra Mile: Points of Light Volunteer Pathway, Washington, D.C. Photo by author, 2010.

Lately I’ve been considering how Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed* can help me to study memorials.  The book isn’t about visual representation and it isn’t a typical source for art historians.  However, it is prominent in educational literature and many of the author’s thoughts apply to the contentious world of visual culture.  Freire (1921-1997), a Brazilian educator, argued that a restructured educational system rooted in collaboration, critical reflection paired with organized action, and real-world issues could empower people to fight social oppression.

Of his many important ideas, his perspectives about research have strengthened my interests in inclusive, participatory approaches.  Similar to his suggestion that teachers and students work in a dualistic manner (both groups instruct and learn as they critically assess problems), Freire proposes that researchers work as partners with people “who would normally be considered objects of that investigation.” (87)  He identifies these people as co-investigators and suggests that the researcher include their views in the evaluation process.  For Freire and sociologist Maria Edy Ferreira, the purpose of the research shouldn’t center on studying people.  Instead, researchers should seek to understand people’s situation or experiences in the world. (91)  To conduct research cooperatively, Freire encourages researchers to focus on understanding through sympathetic observation.  This approach forgoes dictating to the participants.

As I discussed in my previous post “Learning through Participation,” I employ collaborative, socially based methods for my study of lynching memorials.  One of my main challenges involves addressing current criticisms of therapeutic memorials (“victim memorials”).  In addition to considering the role of sentimentalization and art historian Kirk Savage’s useful historical discussion of “victim memorials,”* I believe Freire’s work will help me to reveal the political dimensions.  His attention to how oppressed groups can work together to improve their condition will help me to dismantle censures such as “Why are these people getting a monument? Why is their pain more important than the pain of someone else?”  Freire’s arguments could help to enrich memorial scholarship by identifying the assumptions of these perspectives.

References:

*Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, London: Penguin Books, 1993, 1970.
*Kirk Savage, Monument Wars: Washington, D.C., the National Mall, and the Transformation of the Memorial Landscape, Berkeley, CA: University of California, 236-244.

Pinning My Inquietudes/Hopes for Art History

Lately I’ve been revising my Pinterest boards so that they engage key concerns I have about art history. I began using Pinterest, an online customizable set of bulletin boards, last summer when I taught History of Photography.  The boards for arth318snapshot served as a resource for my undergraduate students and broader publics.  I later started my own artstuffmatters‘ set of boards. Initially it focused mainly on books about various subject areas.  I didn’t really do much with it.  However, I recently had a “eureka moment” that sparked a different, more passionate direction.

Last fall at the Imagining America October 2012 conference, I heard a presentation that continues to inspire and challenge me.  Dr. Marta Vega, Executive Director and Founder of the Caribbean Cultural Center and African Diaspora Institute, centered her address on “inquietudes,” things that make one feel ill at ease, in relationships between academia and the wider world.  She argued that many academics don’t engage community organizations as partners or as higher education institutions.  Because they don’t value the knowledge and experience of these agencies, these scholars can’t actually engage most people.  She urged the scholarly sphere to recognize that it is a part of community instead of promoting hierarchical behaviors.  If we are serious about civic engagement and creating enduring social change, we need to foster connections between people. We need to make our arts centers inclusive.

These ideas resonated for me because in my work as a graduate student I sometimes feel apprehensive about scholarly research, dissemination methods, and traditional constructions of the discipline. One of my major inquietudes involves issues of inclusion and diversity.  When I hear about diversity in art history, it’s usually in regards to museums careers. In the academic sphere most of this discussion involves courses in art of non-western cultures. While varied course offerings are very important, we need to make this strategy a part of a system that spans types of art, chronologies, and fields.  We need to consider full inclusion and diversity in relation to our research and pedagogical methods as well.  We should communicate this focus to our undergraduate and graduate students. (I have encountered more than one art history graduate student who mistakenly believes that diversity-related topics only pertain to modern and contemporary art. One person even told me that race is only a relevant topic for those who study African or African-American art.) Our lack of attention to community and vernacular arts compounds this problem. Additionally, we need to consider how we can encourage people of diverse races and ethnic backgrounds to study and teach art history.  The discipline sorely lacks diversity in terms of students and faculty members. Addressing these matters can help us to engage broader publics and demonstrate the significance of our discipline and the humanities.

I have created boards for topics I’d like to see more art historians critically engage – diversity, community arts, public scholarship, digital scholarship, teaching techniques, and image use among others. These boards contain links to resources that I would have loved to know about when I started graduate school. I hope students, instructors, and others interested in the arts find this collection helpful. If you have suggestions for the boards, please let me know through the comment feature here or on Pinterest. As I work to create positive change in the discipline, I’ll continue blogging about these inquietudes in future posts because this platform is one way to explore, expand, and celebrate my connection to community.

By the way: While I’m serious about a lot of things, I also have a sense of humor. My boards “Foot Fetish in Sculpture” and “Theory Can Be Fun” are works in progress just because they make me smile.

Related articles:

“Art History Department Explores Diversity, Accessibility” The Oberlin Review, 4/17/2013

Blogging for Humanity and Art History

Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. Photo by author.

*Over the next several months, I’ll be writing about the challenges and benefits of adopting a publicly active approach as an art historian. I’ll share what I’ve learned as a University of Delaware PEMCI fellow (Public Engagement in Material Culture Institute) and as a recent PAGE (Publicly Active Graduate Education) fellow of the national organization, Imagining America.

When I began graduate school, I was very interested in sharing knowledge with a broad audience. I wanted to ensure that my graduate school experience would help me become more socially relevant.  Fortunately, my program is very amenable to student involvement in diverse projects. From the onset, I met faculty members who encouraged graduate students to write for local newspapers as well as academic journals.  Through my experience as a fellow in the University of Delaware’s Public Engagement in Material Culture Institute, PEMCI, I learned how to write for non-academic publics.  This program also taught me how to share my work via social media platforms.

Now that I’ve been blogging for over two years about public culture in the arts, I actually feel engaged with the world of art.  Although I had previously secured an advanced knowledge of art history as a master’s level student, I usually felt that my training qualified me to serve as an adept observer, but not as an active producer in the arts. Fortunately, I made my way out of that quagmire with the help of various faculty and staff members at my institution and comments from many people who have reviewed my blog and tweets.

On this blog I write about material culture, the stuff people make. While I started this venue to provide further contextual information about my dissertation topic, lynching landscapes, I now write about diverse topics related to the arts.  I aim to write two posts per month. However, sometimes life (school assignments, deadlines, etc.) gets in the way. Then, I’m lucky if I able to blog once a month. Unlike most of the papers I’ve written for class assignments and conference presentations, blogging is more personal.  I allow myself room to investigate various issues without trying to prove a thesis.  I’ve also had to develop a blogging voice. Although the tone of most of my posts is probably more academic than those by non-Ph.D. seekers, I seek to write in an intelligent, yet authentic, and understandable, manner that will engage a broad audience.

To date I’ve published over thirty posts. I’ve written reviews on exhibitions, books, and essays; disseminated event information; recommended exhibitions and public art to see; and ruminated on single topics.

Although I’m excited about being a public scholar, I have noticed that some graduate students do not consider public engagement as an aspect of their career goals. I hope my posts and other activities will encourage some folks to reconsider this option because I truly believe that digital humanities projects can help to create and sustain communities. We can use social media to empower stakeholders fighting exclusionary practices through four key strategies: knowledge, voice, collaboration, and planning.  Blogging is a path toward participation in current issues, making history, and fostering dialogue between people from various backgrounds.

I plan to keep blogging for the remainder of my graduate education and throughout my professional career.  This project is a type of community work and a practice that allows me to explore ideas, ask questions, and “keep it real.”

Related –

History and the Politics of Scholarly Collaboration, Part II: What is to be Done?, by Claire Potter, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/4/12

Scholarly Authority in a Wikified World, by William Cronon, American Historical Association, Perspectives on History, 2/12

Do the Risky Thing in Digital Humanities, by Kathleen Fitzpatrick, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 9/25/11

Scholars Use Wikipedia to Save Public Art from the Dustbin of History, by Mary Helen Miller, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/4/10

Lots to Say About Memorials?

Vietnam Veterans Memorial by Maya Lin, completed 1982, Washington, DC

This fall I’m starting a Memorials Discussion Group at the University of Delaware.
We’ll get together regularly to share ideas about the various aspects of memorials.  All types of commemorative structures and practices are possible subjects- sculpture, mural paintings, mosaics, quilts, parades, reading of names or statements, building plaques, photographs, and more.

So far I know we’ll have some graduate students and faculty members from the history and art history departments participating in the discussions. But we want more folks to join us to keep the conversations rich and interesting.

Sociologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, cultural geographers, conservators, artists, and everyone else who works (or has a strong interest) in memorial culture is welcome to join the group.

Meetings will be informal (no readings required!) and held in the University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware area.

If you’re in the Newark, DE area and love to talk about memorials, send me a note via the comments section.

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UW-Superior Symposium on Duluth Lynchings

This weekend, April 30, 2010 – May 1, 2010 University of Wisconsin-Superior will be addressing the 1920 Duluth, Minnesota lynchings in a symposium: “Ninety Years After the Lynchings in Duluth: Past, Present and Future Importance.”

For more information, see http://www.uwsuper.edu/news/uw-superior-to-host-symposium-on-duluth-lynchings-friday-and-site-tour-saturday_article1136348.

Symposium Schedule

Session One: Introduction: 11 to 11:40 a.m.

“Forgiving the Unforgiveable”
Warren Read, author of “The Lyncher Within Me.”

Lunch Break: 11:40 to Noon

Session Two: Keynote Address: Noon to 12:50 p.m.

“A Life Informed by a Lynching”
Michael Fedo, author of “The Lynchings in Duluth”

Session Three: The Social Framing of the Lynchings: 1 to 2 p.m.

“The Lynchings in Duluth” Video Introduction
F. Barry Schreiber, Professor of Criminal Justice, St. Cloud State University

“Ethnicity, Class and the Lynchings in Duluth”
Dick Hudelson, Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Superior

“Lynching in Duluth and Elsewhere”
Joel Sipress, Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Superior

Session Four: Forgetting and Remembering: 2 to 3 p.m.

“Culture in Curriculum: Finding Every Child Special”
Joli Shamblott, the Organizing Committee

Questions and Answers on “The Klan in Minnesota”
Elizabeth Dorsey Hatle, co-author (Nancy M. Vaillancourt) of “The Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s”

“Moving Forward: The Past Does Not Have to Equal the Future”
Scott Nelson, University of Wisconsin-Superior and the Organizing Committee

“Constructing the Past to Prepare the Future”
Marshall Johnson, Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Superior